I Match

I've noticed several questions about IMatch. How do you like that program? I'm looking for something to use. Was it worth it?? Know of anything better??

Thanks,
Jack
--
I just want a camera that works.

It's a wonderful program. I have a couple thousand images on over 40 CDs all categorized and it’s a snap to find what I’m after. It’s a very powerful package and I’ve barely touched the surface. It’s amazing what some of the power users have done. I’m satisfied right now being able to locate the photo of that doorway down at the mission in San Juan Batista I took last November. The whole category concept makes so much more sense then the Thumbs Plus ‘key words’ thing. It’s much more flexible. Support is fantastic too. There's a good users group at Yahoo Groups. Oh, the price ain’t bad either.

Tom Husband

Jack Steinhilper said:

I've noticed several questions about IMatch. How do you like that
program? I'm looking for something to use. Was it worth it??
Know of anything better??

Thanks,
Jack
--
I just want a camera that works.

Click to expand...

Jack - before I found IMatch I'd been trying out all sorts of similar programs over a period of about 4 years. Believe me, I tried, bought and used a lot of software - and wasted a lot of money in the process :-( If you want to get an idea of how many of these things there are, start at http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Graphics/Image_Cataloguing/ )

Anyway, everyone has different needs and I'm sure yours will NOT be the same as mine, so you need to decide yourself whether the feature set fits your needs. Me - I was looking for a program that would not just index/catalog my images (whether on CDROM or hard disk) but also let me do these things:

• use EXIF and IPTC information creatively

• allow me to publish selected images to the WWW easily and flexibly

• enable me to index my images in a very large number of ways and provide and equally large number of ways to search for images

• provide a way to program the software myself should I need a feature that is not already provided

• and so on...

Well, you know the end of the story: IMatch does all of this and much more and so has ended my long search.

I still keep a look out for new programs but, from what I've seen and heard, there isn't anyone producing a serious competitor to IMatch - even at five times or more the asking price!

Apart from IMatch itself, the support forum is VERY supportive for new and old hands alike - you know - 'no question is a dumb question' sort of approach.

So, it's obviously up to you but you'll know, if you've searched this and other forums, that IMatch is very much liked by its users.

If this has been helpful to you - good! If not, I'm sure there are lots of other opinions that will come your way.

Good luck!

Wow! Thanks.
That sounds like the one.

In a nut shell, just what is and how do you use the IPTC information? I went to the web site linked on photools.com, and know it's the "press site", but other than that, I don't know beans. Just something quick and dirty.
Thanks again,
Jack

Tadeusz Letocha said:

Jack - before I found IMatch I'd been trying out all sorts of
similar programs over a period of about 4 years. Believe me, I
tried, bought and used a lot of software - and wasted a lot of
money in the process :-( If you want to get an idea of how many of
these things there are, start at
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Graphics/Image_Cataloguing/ )

Anyway, everyone has different needs and I'm sure yours will NOT be
the same as mine, so you need to decide yourself whether the
feature set fits your needs. Me - I was looking for a program that
would not just index/catalog my images (whether on CDROM or hard
disk) but also let me do these things:

• use EXIF and IPTC information creatively

• allow me to publish selected images to the WWW easily and flexibly

• enable me to index my images in a very large number of ways and

provide and equally large number of ways to search for images

• provide a way to program the software myself should I need a

feature that is not already provided

• and so on...

Well, you know the end of the story: IMatch does all of this and
much more and so has ended my long search.

I still keep a look out for new programs but, from what I've seen
and heard, there isn't anyone producing a serious competitor to
IMatch - even at five times or more the asking price!

Apart from IMatch itself, the support forum is VERY supportive for
new and old hands alike - you know - 'no question is a dumb
question' sort of approach.

So, it's obviously up to you but you'll know, if you've searched
this and other forums, that IMatch is very much liked by its users.

If this has been helpful to you - good! If not, I'm sure there are
lots of other opinions that will come your way.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.

That's what I was looking for, I've got several gig of pictures (that I can locate) and about 30 to 50 more gig of free space. But I'm guessing that they will be written off to CD's and wanted something that would not complain that the image file is not where it thinks it is.

Now, all that space is spread across my network, I mainly use a laptop that doesn't have that much free space.
Two questions.

How big is the database that covers your CD's?

Can that database be used on one (or more) machines, but reside on a different one? Can it be on my server, but use it on my laptop?

Thanks
Jack

Tom Husband said:

Tom Husband

Jack Steinhilper said:

I've noticed several questions about IMatch. How do you like that
program? I'm looking for something to use. Was it worth it??
Know of anything better??

Thanks,
Jack
--
I just want a camera that works.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.

With all this praise, you'd better buy it quick before Mario raises the price!
-bruce

Tadeusz Letocha said:

Jack - before I found IMatch I'd been trying out all sorts of
similar programs over a period of about 4 years. Believe me, I
tried, bought and used a lot of software - and wasted a lot of
money in the process :-( If you want to get an idea of how many of
these things there are, start at
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Graphics/Image_Cataloguing/ )

Anyway, everyone has different needs and I'm sure yours will NOT be
the same as mine, so you need to decide yourself whether the
feature set fits your needs. Me - I was looking for a program that
would not just index/catalog my images (whether on CDROM or hard
disk) but also let me do these things:

• use EXIF and IPTC information creatively

• allow me to publish selected images to the WWW easily and flexibly

• enable me to index my images in a very large number of ways and

provide and equally large number of ways to search for images

• provide a way to program the software myself should I need a

feature that is not already provided

• and so on...

Well, you know the end of the story: IMatch does all of this and
much more and so has ended my long search.

I still keep a look out for new programs but, from what I've seen
and heard, there isn't anyone producing a serious competitor to
IMatch - even at five times or more the asking price!

Apart from IMatch itself, the support forum is VERY supportive for
new and old hands alike - you know - 'no question is a dumb
question' sort of approach.

So, it's obviously up to you but you'll know, if you've searched
this and other forums, that IMatch is very much liked by its users.

If this has been helpful to you - good! If not, I'm sure there are
lots of other opinions that will come your way.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Jack,

I have about 4200 files at 105MB on my database for all my CD's. I know you can transfer the database around as that's how you backup. I'm not sure if, legally, IMatch can be used on two machines. I think it can though.

Tom

Jack Steinhilper said:

How big is the database that covers your CD's?

Can that database be used on one (or more) machines, but reside on
a different one? Can it be on my server, but use it on my laptop?

Thanks
Jack

Tom Husband said:

Tom Husband

Jack Steinhilper said:

I've noticed several questions about IMatch. How do you like that
program? I'm looking for something to use. Was it worth it??
Know of anything better??

Thanks,
Jack
--
I just want a camera that works.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.

Click to expand...

Jack Steinhilper said:

In a nut shell, just what is and how do you use the IPTC
information? I went to the web site linked on photools.com, and
know it's the "press site", but other than that, I don't know
beans. Just something quick and dirty.

Click to expand...

What we're talking about here is storing information about an image inside the image file. That way, wherever the image goes, the information goes with it. It does NOT depend on the cataloguing program or the image editing program. And in theory, any of these kinds of programs can read the information. In future, therefore, you can change your image database program for a new one and all that information you've created and saved in your image files will still be readable by the new program. No need to re-enter it all again!

Now, the IPTC has defined "standard" information so that, whatever press office you're in, wherever it is, you will be able to make sense of the information in the image file.

Well, most of us are not "pros" but we still want to keep information about our images, don't we? That means, we can bend the rules about using any IPTC standards if we want to. What that means is this: we can use any of the IPTC fields for any information we like. So, while I might use the "Caption" field to keep the text of the caption I have given to a particular image, I might choose to use the "Caption Writer" field to keep information about the airplane manufacturer (if I were a planespotter - which I'm not... ahem...)

I hope you get the idea: work out what information you'd like to store in your images and then decide which IPTC fields to use. Obviously you have to be consistent. It's no good using "Caption Writer" field sometimes to hold the airplane manufacturer info. and sometimes to hold the age of the airplane. That wouldn't work very well: it's best to use one field for just one purpose. Then you'll be able to sort and search on those fields.

Most (if not all) image catalog programs have their own database to store this sort of information in; so why not use that? The problem begins when you move to a new catalog program: it's generally very difficult moving the information out of one database into another because the databases are not compatible and the new program will not be able to just "open" the old database.

Having said that, IMatch scores over most here because you can program it to import information from your old catalog program (there are already several such IMatch 'scripts' available via the support forum) and you can program it to export (that is, save) your information in almost any way you can think of. So, moving from IMatch to a new catalog program in the future should be a lot less painful than ever before.

(Why on earth would I want to move from IMatch - well, even though I don't you have to hedge your bets, don't you?)

Hope this helps.

Tadeusz Letocha said:

Tadeusz Letocha said:

In a nut shell, just what is and how do you use the IPTC
information? I went to the web site linked on photools.com, and

Click to expand...

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Dang! That was some nutshell!! It helps considerably. I'll have to set it up and start playing with it. I hope it's easier to use than it sounds.
Thanks again,
Jack
--
I just want a camera that works.

I have almost a dozen computers here at home, three servers, several laptops and a couple of desktops.

I look at licensing like this, as long as I'm buying it, and not giving a copy to somebody else, I can use it on as many machines as I use. That's the intent of the law, even though it's installed on many, I can only use it at any one time, on one. (Now, I can't install it on two, and I use it on one while at the same time somebody else uses it on another).

Thanks for the information. I will have to spend some time playing with it.

Tom Husband said:

I have about 4200 files at 105MB on my database for all my CD's. I
know you can transfer the database around as that's how you backup.
I'm not sure if, legally, IMatch can be used on two machines. I
think it can though.

Tom

Jack Steinhilper said:

How big is the database that covers your CD's?

Can that database be used on one (or more) machines, but reside on
a different one? Can it be on my server, but use it on my laptop?

Thanks
Jack

Tom Husband said:

Tom Husband

Jack Steinhilper said:

I've noticed several questions about IMatch. How do you like that
program? I'm looking for something to use. Was it worth it??
Know of anything better??

Thanks,
Jack
--
I just want a camera that works.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.

I installed it, and imported most of my pictures. This is one heck of a program. This is going to take some reading.
Thanks for the info on it,
Jack
--
I just want a camera that works.

Hi, Jack

IMatch is licensed "per user", and the licensed user (!) can use IMatch on any number of computers.

Most photographers have at least two machines: The desktop box at home and a laptop when they are out in the field.

The IMatch license model explicitely supports this

You can install an IMatch database on one of your servers, and then access it from any of your other computers, given that:

+ The drive mappings are identical (so e.g. the F: drive maps to the same machine/folder on all machines)

+ OR you use UNC paths like \\server\share\folder to add folders to your database

Mario Westphal
Author of IMatch - The Digital Image Management Solution
[email protected]
http://www.photools.com

You can find more information about IPTC here: http://www.iptc.org

While IPTC is mostly used by professional photographers, news and wire agencies, it's currently the only standard that allows you to add all kind of information to your images.

As Tadeusz wrote in his remarkable posting, IPTC information is stored within your images, and it travels with your images. Even if you decide to switch your image cataloger some day, all the work you have put into captioning your images will be save.

Not to mention that IMatch has probably the best IPTC Editor (user's voices) and fully supports IPTC on various levels. Once the information has been imported from your images (which is, after an initial setup) totally automatically, you can use IPTC information to sort your images, find your images, create contact sheets and perform batch processing.

You can even use IPTC information in the Web Sites you can create from within IMatch, to annotate the images on your web gallery.

Since you have also full access to all IPTC information from the IMatch scripting engine (If you plan to create some cool new functions with scripting), you can do all sorts of amazing things with the IPTC information contained in your images.

All of the above is also true for the EXIF information that is stored in your images by your digital camera. IMatch can handle that as well (EXIF 2.1/2.2 standard compliant, and soon also able to handle most of the proprietary EXIF extensions created by all camera vendors).

Just my two cents ;-)

--
Mario Westphal
Author of IMatch - The Digital Image Management Solution
[email protected]
http://www.photools.com

Thanks for the info.

I read their FAQ's, and I think number 38 or so confirms this. One person can use it on any number of machines.

So far, it's working out quite well. I have the database and pictures on one of the net drives, and I can move the database around at will, just tell iMatch where to find it and it's happy!
I think this will work out well.

But tell me, sounds like you have a laptop. I use one when I'm on the road, to upload my pictures until I get home. How do you swing this? Anything special or just copy them and work on them on the "big" machine.

Mario Westphal said:

Hi, Jack

IMatch is licensed "per user", and the licensed user (!) can use
IMatch on any number of computers.

Most photographers have at least two machines: The desktop box at
home and a laptop when they are out in the field.

The IMatch license model explicitely supports this

You can install an IMatch database on one of your servers, and then
access it from any of your other computers, given that:

+ The drive mappings are identical (so e.g. the F: drive maps to
the same machine/folder on all machines)

+ OR you use UNC paths like \\server\share\folder to add folders
to your database

Mario Westphal
Author of IMatch - The Digital Image Management Solution
[email protected]
http://www.photools.com

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.

I know basically what it is. But, is the IPTC "format" cause problems in other photo programs (like "Unknown format" errors). Or do they just ignore the extra data?

Mario Westphal said:

You can find more information about IPTC here: http://www.iptc.org

While IPTC is mostly used by professional photographers, news and
wire agencies, it's currently the only standard that allows you to
add all kind of information to your images.

As Tadeusz wrote in his remarkable posting, IPTC information is
stored within your images, and it travels with your images. Even if
you decide to switch your image cataloger some day, all the work
you have put into captioning your images will be save.

Not to mention that IMatch has probably the best IPTC Editor
(user's voices) and fully supports IPTC on various levels. Once the
information has been imported from your images (which is, after an
initial setup) totally automatically, you can use IPTC information
to sort your images, find your images, create contact sheets and
perform batch processing.

You can even use IPTC information in the Web Sites you can create
from within IMatch, to annotate the images on your web gallery.

Since you have also full access to all IPTC information from the
IMatch scripting engine (If you plan to create some cool new
functions with scripting), you can do all sorts of amazing things
with the IPTC information contained in your images.

All of the above is also true for the EXIF information that is
stored in your images by your digital camera. IMatch can handle
that as well (EXIF 2.1/2.2 standard compliant, and soon also able
to handle most of the proprietary EXIF extensions created by all
camera vendors).

Just my two cents ;-)

--
Mario Westphal
Author of IMatch - The Digital Image Management Solution
[email protected]
http://www.photools.com

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.

Jack Steinhilper said:

I know basically what it is. But, is the IPTC "format" cause
problems in other photo programs (like "Unknown format" errors).
Or do they just ignore the extra data?

Click to expand...

They ignore it. The IPTC is added to special blocks within the JPEG/TIFF/PSD file. All applications not aware of IPTC information just ignore these blocks.

But , when you write back a file with an application that is not aware of IPTC information (or EXIF info), it may happen that the data is not written to the new file.

You should check your image processing programs for compatibility before you use them with IPTC or EXIF tagged images.

Most applications are either aware of these special info, or they keep all the information they don't know and write it to the output file without modifications.

--
Mario Westphal
Author of IMatch - The Digital Image Management Solution
[email protected]
http://www.photools.com

Well that explains that! I knew some programs lost the data, but now I know why. This is why I like this place. This is the first I've heard of IPTC.
Thanks

Mario Westphal said:

Jack Steinhilper said:

I know basically what it is. But, is the IPTC "format" cause
problems in other photo programs (like "Unknown format" errors).
Or do they just ignore the extra data?

Click to expand...

They ignore it. The IPTC is added to special blocks within the
JPEG/TIFF/PSD file. All applications not aware of IPTC information
just ignore these blocks.

But , when you write back a file with an application that is not
aware of IPTC information (or EXIF info), it may happen that the
data is not written to the new file.

You should check your image processing programs for compatibility
before you use them with IPTC or EXIF tagged images.

Most applications are either aware of these special info, or they
keep all the information they don't know and write it to the output
file without modifications.

--
Mario Westphal
Author of IMatch - The Digital Image Management Solution
[email protected]
http://www.photools.com

Click to expand...

--
I just want a camera that works.